I always get suckered into the cover pages of magazines and their eye-catching headlines. The February 2009 Real Simple magazine was no exception with its promise of "Comfort Food Tonight - Your favorite recipes made faster (and healthier).
All of the recipes looked good, but for tonight, I chose the Turkey Meat Loaf with Mashed Potatoes.
The recipe truly was fast and easy. The hardest, most time-consuming part was just washing & cutting everything up. I got the meatloaf started and took a shower while hubby prepared the potatoes. By the time I got out of the shower, I had enough time to start drying my hair. Halfway through drying my hair, I got the potatoes started cooking and prepared the green beans (these weren't part of the recipe, but I thought they would make a nice addition). I went back to drying my hair for a bit. Stopped to put the green beans in the steamer. Finished drying my hair in time to finish the potatoes and prepare everything else. I love multi-tasking!
Turkey Meat Loaf with Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Green Beans
Adapted from Real Simple's recipe in the February 2009 magazine
1 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cups baby spinach, chopped
1 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup bread crumbs (whole wheat preferred)
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 large egg white
1/4 - 1/2 cup ketchup
2 lbs red potatoes, quartered
2 cups green beans, ends trimmed
1 tbsp melted butter (for green beans)
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & black pepper
no-stick cooking spray
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. In a bowl, combine the turkey, onion, spinach, parsley, bread crumbs, mustard, egg white, and 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper.
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with no-stick cooking spray. Transfer the mixture from Step 1 to the baking sheet and form into a 10-inch loaf. Spread with ketchup. Bake until cooked through, about 45 to 50 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, place the potatoes in a large pot of cold water. Simmer until tender, 15-18 minutes. Drain the potatoes, place back in pot, mash with the buttermilk, oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper.
4. While the potatoes cook, get water boiling in a medium-sized saucepan, filled about 3/4 inch high with water. Once water is boiling, put green beans into a steamer and place steamer into pan and cover. Steam till green beans are crisp-tender, about 8-10 minutes.
5. Serve the meal loaf with the potatoes and green beans. Drizzle green beans with melted butter. Bring ketchup bottle to table in case any one wants more ketchup with the meat loaf.
My only complaint with these healthy comfort food recipes is that they don't include nutritional information in the magazine. They do a nice job of pointing out which ingredients make the dish healthier and how, but number of calories and grams of fat would have been helpful, too. Still, they have some great dishes here and I can't wait to try some of the others!
For dessert - a small bowl of Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal with 2% milk.
I love turkey meatloaf and this sounds healthier than the one I make. (I get lazy and just use a meatloaf seasoning packet and mix that up with some ground turkey. My New Year's goal is to eat less saturated fat and zero cholesterol if at all possible.
Speaking of healthier versions of comfort food, I found one on Weight Watchers website for a healthy version of Macaroni & Cheese Casserole. It was good, but not as good as the full fat original version. LOL - oh well!
Posted by: Marie | January 21, 2009 at 10:19 AM
I got a subscription to this magazine for xmas - a lot of the recipes look great!
Posted by: Saver Queen | January 21, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Oooh that meatloaf dinner looks yummy! But really -- are you sure that last picture isn't Captain Crunch???
Posted by: Thimbleanna | January 22, 2009 at 10:34 PM
Real Simple posted the nutritional info to the website (excluding the green beans)- here you go!
Yield: Makes 6 servings
CALORIES 376 ; FAT 11g (sat 3g); CHOLESTEROL 67mg; CARBOHYDRATE 43g; SODIUM 700mg; PROTEIN 30g; FIBER 5g; SUGARS 7g
Posted by: Claire | January 23, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Also, Real Simple now posts the nutritional info all their recipes near the back of the magazine (including this one). I like it better when magazines post them right under the recipe, but I guess it makes for a cleaner page layout.
Posted by: Maija | February 20, 2009 at 06:23 PM
it actually looks healthy, i love this stuff!
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